My Background: Born to Chinese Hong Kong Immigrants
Here is some information on my background and how I was born and raised.
I was a Chinese speaking kid that grew up in a predominantly Caucasian neighborhood called Bayridge in New York City. My parents were Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong and had immigrated to the USA to pursue the American Dream.
I grew up learning how to speak Chinese Mandarin and then Chinese Cantonese and it wasn’t until I was 6 years old that I started to learn bits and pieces of English.
Even though Chinese was my first language, we were not traditionalists in the sense that we didn’t really follow the Chinese customs and celebrate all the holidays such as Lunar Festival (is that even the correct name?). We celebrated the American holidays much more than the Chinese ones.
Favorite Chinese Holiday
But one Chinese holiday we DID celebrate was Chinese New Year and every kid loves Chinese New Year because we get red envelopes!
And red envelopes all had money inside!
Often we could get a year’s allowance in just 1 holiday.
Asides from the money, the only thing that did stand out was my grandparent’s emphasis that we had to wear new clothes on Chinese New Year. The new clothes symbolized a “new beginning” or “change” that will lead to a prosperous new year.
That may not even be the right meaning nor tradition (remember: we didn’t really follow customs) but that is what it meant to ME.
By the way, if you do know the real meaning of wearing “new clothes,” feel free to comment below.
And that experience… of wearing new clothes and how it symbolized change is what I still remember today and is what has helped me out over the years achieve the goals and get better each year.
Don’t Make the Arrival of the New Year an Empty Hope
So… what does that have to do with the Jan. 1st New Year?!
Plenty.
But I will get to that later… keep reading about something we must be clear on first.
Celebration of the New Year is anticipation and “hope” for many of better things to come.
Unfortunately for most people, it is just an empty hope.
But for the few motivated individuals that exactly have specific goals down and a game plan on achieving those goals, they have more than a hope.
They have a chance.
Live by Choice and Not By Chance
Many people write some “New Year’s Resolutions” down but as we all know, they don’t last very long.
Why do we fail so miserably at them?
One of the reasons we fail is that it is something that we just wrote down and not really “goals.”
Resolutions are not targets.
There is no thought nor plan of action to make them happen.
They are just empty wishes.
And empty wishes lead to disappointments and after a few years of futility we give up the entire resolutions exercise completely.
Which is a shame because without any goals nor target, we end up nowhere.
We must give ourselves targets and goals in order to become better or else we leave our success and ultimately our life to chance and not by choice.
Importance of Goal Setting
Goals are things that we take time to think about and focus on.
They are not like resolutions that we come up at the last minute (normally on New Year’s Eve) and write down.
They are carefully thought out targets that we know in advance.
The Hunter with A Target
The best example I like to use is a hunter who is out hunting. If you give him 100 bullets and told him to randomly fire, what are the chances that he would hit a slightly hidden bullseye that he is UNAWARE OF and also hidden 100 feet away and camouflaged between 2 bushes?
I bet you none of the 100 bullets will even come close.
But if you gave him that target (a goal) and told him in advance to aim for that bullseye, chances are he will hit it.
And even if he misses, he will come close.
And that is our lives without goals. We must need goals or else we never come even close to targets.
How to Make Your Goals Happen
So I know many of you have goals down already.
So how do we make it happen?
Let’s go back to the lessons I learned at Chinese New Year.
Often we write goals down and things that we want to achieve. WE focus on the outcome and we fail to reach that outcome because we forget to focus on the PROCESS.
In order to achieve something better, we must become better FIRST.
Never forget that.
To rephrase it again…
In order for things to become better, we MUST CHANGE and become better.
So for example…
In order for our income to change, we MUST CHANGE and become better.
In order for our relationships to improve, we MUST CHANGE and get better at relationships.
In order for our health to become better, we MUST CHANGE our habits and lifestyle.
You MUST CHANGE in order for your results to change.
So if you want to reach your goals, YOU MUST CHANGE.
How to Change and Get Better
There are tons of things we can change and get better.
But just focus on a select few.
Focus on the daily actions and choices you make every second.
The first step is to be aware that we can CONTROL what we do every second. Once we are aware of this amazing power we have, then we can think twice and make the choice that will lead to the outcome we want.
If you want to make more money this year, what are you exactly going to do after you finish reading this blog?
Will that activity help you make money or not?
That single decision will be take you in a direction that is closer to your goal or further away.
You have that power every second and the choice is yours.
Your New Clothes In the New Year
And that is the beauty of the lesson I learned from the new clothes that we had to wear during Chinese New Year.
The new clothes taught me as a kid that we need to CHANGE in order to get better.
Instead of just writing goals down and hope they will happen, focus on how you will CHANGE and the daily activities you will do DIFFERENTLY.
It is the things that you do DIFFERENTLY every second that will determine the results.
So what changes do you need to undergo in order for you to achieve your goals?
Sorry to disappoint you but unless you CHANGE, 2013 will be the same (or worse) than 2012.
But I know you are hungry and ready to change.
2013 will be YOUR YEAR of Change.
I wish you MASSIVE CHANGE that will lead to a prosperous 2013 for you.
What are you going to do RIGHT NOW?
Sincerely,
Simon Chan
P.S. Many of you have contacted me and enjoy the lessons that I have included in my past blogs. If you are hungry and want to learn more tips on how to increase your productivity, improve your life and become more successful, I would like to invite you to become a member of Simon Chan Insider’s Circle. For a limited time Membership is FREE. Click Here to learn more.
___________________________________________________________________
THE S.O.W. SPONSORING SYSTEM
For Distributors Who Don’t Have Sales Experience
Learn how to Easily Invite More Prospects to learn about your network marketing business…
so that you can Sponsor MORE distributors regardless of whether you are good in sales or know how to present.
This 20 DVD/CD Training is divided into 7 Components
COMPONENT 1: The Attitude and Daily Routine of Top Sponsors
COMPONENT 2: Magnetic Communication
COMPONENT 3: How to Easily Approach and Invite Prospects
COMPONENT 4: Learn how NOT to Bore Your Prospects
COMPONENT 5: How to Overcome Over 50 Types of Objections
COMPONENT 6: How to Maximize Your Business Through Followups
COMPONENT 7: Closing and Getting Your Prospects to Join You
Click Here to Learn More about this Comprehensive Training course
Jorge Espiritu says
Great read mentor Simon!